A Simple Truth (25 page)

Back he went again and walked out into the warm inviting sunshine.  Red had gone.  Knight moved away from the rock face to extend his field of view.  No Red.  So what now?  The air, that was the first thing to check.  If he was indeed on earth, as his eyes insisted
,
he could dispense with his bulky suit and its dwindling air supply.  The tiny analyser was a recent development of the WSA Instrumentation Division.  Weighing only a few grams it could identify the composition of all the common liquids, solids and gases, most of the uncommon ones, and all their physical characteristics.  He felt slightly ridiculous standing here in a vacuum suit and helmet analysing the atmosphere, and was glad that no-one could see him.  He fumbled with the little reagent capsule.  It was a tedious job in heavily gloved hands but eventually he had it successfully plugged into the analysis unit.  The capsule contained very precise quantities of a large number of substances, each playing a part in the analysis, some physical and some chemical.  Whatever the atmosphere contained it would quickly be
identified
by the electrochemical sensors.

A small piston was withdrawn to allow in a fixed volume of the unknown atmosphere, then Knight pressed the button to mix it with the reagents and waited for the miniature display to give the results.  First came the pressure - '10
2
162 PASCALS', then the constituents in order of concentration by volume: 'NITROGEN 0.78, OXYGEN 0.21, ARGON 0.01, TRACE QUANTITIES CARBON DIOXIDE, NEON, WATER VAPOUR, HELIUM, REMAINING FRACTION NON-TOXIC.'
It was air; pure, classic, textbook fresh air.  The device would produce a printed card for permanent reference if required but in this case there was no need.

Knight removed his helmet and cautiously took a few shallow breaths.  It was indeed air and it tasted wonderful.  Eagerly he filled his lungs.  He could smell a dozen scents, the grasses, trees and bushes all added their own contributions.  After breathing sterile air for so long his sense of smell was very acute.  Within a few
minutes
it would become dull again, but while it lasted he enjoyed the experience to the full.

Quickly he unfastened and climbed out of his suit.  Modern vacuum suits were reasonably comfortable, but nevertheless shedding one was always accompanied by a great feeling of relief.  The sunshine felt good, the air felt good, freedom from his suit felt good, everything felt good.  He was completely lost, he had limited supplies of food and water, he was directly accessible to an alien race with unknown intent and unbelievable power, and had never felt more exhilarated, free, and at ease in his life.

He looked back towards the cliffs once more.  He needed to find some sort of reference to help in the exploration of this strange territory, but nothing stood out sufficiently well to locate easily at a distance.  He was about to move further away to see if there was anything above the cliffs that might serve as a landmark when he noticed a movement out of the corner of his eye.  He turned quickly but was too late to see anything more.  It appeared to have come from a point about a hundred metres away along the cliff and at ground level.  He watched the spot for a while but there was nothing more to see.

His curiosity aroused he pocketed as many instruments and as much equipment from his suit as he could comfortably carry, and then strode off towards the source to investigate.  Perhaps the euphoria of finding an unlimited air supply was still affecting
him;
in any event it did not occur to him that he might be in any danger.  He failed even to exercise reasonable caution.  He walked along as carefree as a schoolboy on holiday.

About twenty metres from his target he suddenly heard a whistling sound close to his left ear.  Startled, he looked up in time to see a long spear strike the ground not three metres away.  He wheeled round in alarm.  There, standing by a cave entrance was a tall, muscular tribesman, ornately decorated, wearing an animal skin, and about to throw another spe
ar.  Knight gasped in disbelief;
then ran for all he was worth away from the cliff.  The second spear missed but only just.

After fifty metres Knight turned, desperately hoping that he was not being pursued.  It was a futile hope, behind him were about fifteen superbly fit and powerful men, all armed with spears and running much faster than he.  He could not
escape;
it was only a matter of time before he fell prey to a more accurately placed spear.  And yet, even in the midst of his panic a part of his mind stayed calm and calculating.  It turned over the problem subconsciously and came up with a sensible solution which it forced into his preoccupied consciousness.

Yes, he thought almost aloud, of course, he had to frighten them, to show them that he possessed magical powers that they dare not challenge.  Bravely he stopped running and faced the advancing horde defiantly.  They too stopped, a little less sure of the situation.  They advanced more slowly, the outer ones moving to the sides to surround their quarry.  Knight dipped a hand quickly into one of his pockets and pulled out a small torch.  He energised it and narrowed the beam to intensify the light output.  A bright spot appeared on the ground before the puzzled group.  He moved it from side to side and towards his attackers.  They were uneasy and began to back off, shouting to each other in their own strange language.  Suddenly he lifted the torch and shone it directly into the eyes of the man who had thrown the first spear and who appeared to be their leader.  He reeled backwards and cried out in shock and fear, clasping his hands over his eyes.  He was temporarily blinded by the intensity of the light and staggered around clumsily.

His colleagues needed no further
convincing;
they ran off, back towards the cliff and safety.  Knight strode masterfully over to their stricken leader who was still unable to see anything clearly and gently took hold of his arm.  The man cowered away and fell to the ground in terror.  Knight found his first-aid kit and
took out
an analgesic spray.  He acted hastily, conscious of the need to intervene before the effect wore off naturally.
He held the man's head and sprayed a mist of the cool liquid into each eye.  His captive was too afraid to resist, but very soon, at the same time as the preparation soothed his eyes, his sight returned to normal.  He looked up at Knight, a look of awe and reveren
ce in his eyes.  And why not?  S
omeone who could inflict blindness and then restore sight was more god than man.

Knight took his arm and helped him up from the ground.  Then together they walked back to the anxiously waiting group.  Knight had
won;
his simple
deception
had paid off handsomely.  He knew that no more demonstrations of power would be necessary.  When their leader told the group of his miraculous recovery they would treat Knight with caution and respect.  The lotion was merely a painkiller, it had no effect on the man's sight of course but good timing enabled the normal sight recovery process to appear to be the result of its application.

Now that the panic was over Knight relaxed.  He could take time to think about things.  The appearance of the tribespeople was surprising
; h
owever it had settled one matter, he was back on earth for certain and perhaps when night fell he would be able to locate his whereabouts more precisely from the stars.

While the
two of them
were still some distance from the rest of the group Knight's companion broke away and ran to his friends shouting excitedly.  Someone disappeared into the cave and returned carrying something.  The leader grabbed it and ran back to Knight, offering the gift with outstretched hands.  It was raw meat of some sort and smelled awful.  His diplomatic skills would be put under severe pressure now he thought, taking the meat and holding it doubtfully.  He looked round their eager face
s, they were willing him to eat;
his acceptance or rejection of the gift would signify acceptance or rejection of them.

He had no choice.  Reluctantly he lifted the disgusting mass to his mouth, and holding his breath bit into it.  It was extremely tough, he had to tear a piece off and almost pulled his teeth out in the process.  But he succeeded, and swallowed it while trying to look pleased and at the same time holding back a strong urge to vomit.  Luckily one mouthful was enough for
them;
they jumped about laughing and shouting.  They came up to him and jabbered away at him enthusiastically.  He had accepted them, and they had no wish to conceal their joy.

He felt that some return gifts were in order, so he found his first-aid kit
again
and took out a small sterile patch dispenser.  He demonstrated its use on one of his own fingers, winding the dispenser completely around until a neat white patch had been applied.  Then he took the leader's own hand and holding one of his fingers repeated the process.  A wide beaming smile spread across his face, and he proudly held up his hand for all to see.  Then Knight did the same for another and then another until all the men had one.  After them came the women who had been too timid to venture out of their cave earlier.  Then the children appeared too, there must have been thirty or more, all anxious not to be excluded.  He was very relieved when the dispenser lasted the distance, he would have hated anyone to have been excluded.

The introductions over Knight decided it was time to get down to business.  He would go and retrieve his suit and energise his distress beacon.  The power pack would keep it going for several days so it was unlikely that he would remain lost for long.  The faithful band walked with him, and he began to feel that if he could find a way to enjoy the food then life here might not be so bad after all.  The crowd jostled each other to walk closest to him.  The leader had pride of place by his left side, and the others eventually sorted themselves out in order of status within the group.

A few metres short of his suit and helmet they stopped, unsure and a little afraid of the unfamiliar objects.  Knight was pleased about that, he could work unhindered this way.  He set up the beacon to transmit the 'Lost' code and then switched on his radio intending to check that it was functioning correctly.  It was indeed, but besides his own signal there was another, clearly audible and interfering with it on the emergency channel.  At first he thought his beacon must be transmitting two signals at once, but soon disproved that by switching it off.  The other signal was still there, and Knight instantly recognised the 'Locate and Track' code.

He sat down on the ground puzzled, wondering what it could mean.  He decided that the best thing to do first was to check the direction and range, then depending on how far away it was he could estimate how long it would take to walk there.  Busily he set about deploying the delicate aerials while his audience looked on mystified from a safe distance.  Then using his radio and suit computer in conjunction he began the adjustments needed to determine accurately the source direction.  Five minutes later the task was done and the source known.  The signals were coming from inside the same cliff from which he had emerged only an hour or so ago.

He laughed out loud as the truth became suddenly clear.  Then, at the same instant, as if to confirm his conclusion and confound his patient work another red alien appeared magically from the cliff face, followed very gingerly by his old friend Sharma.

16
   
V
erbal
C
ontact

"Cyrus
,"
shouted Knight in delight and rushed to greet him.  He clasped him by the shoulders and shook him affectionately.  Sharma was still a little unsteady from the changing gravitational fields, but soon orientated himself and hugged his young friend in return.

They had been separated for only a short time but already they felt like long lost brothers.  They were united by shared fears and shared joy at seeing each other safe and well again.

When the initial excitement had subsided Sharma's bewilderment became apparent.  Knight laughed at what he must be thinking.  Here was Knight, no suit on, large as life, surrounded by a colourful tribe of people who had now retreated to an even safer distance, and here they all were back on earth.

"Here let me help you out of your suit
,"
said Knight, his own unfamiliarity with the situation suddenly melting.  Seeing his friend again like this made him feel like an old hand.

"Are you sure this air is all right
?"
asked Sharma doubtfully.

"Yes of course, it's one hundred percent fresh air, it has to be
,
we're back on earth."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure I'm sure, look around, look at these people, look at the sun, where else could we be?"

Sharma looked all around as he accepted Knight's help.  He was still very bewildered.  "I don't know
,"
he answered quietly.  "God only knows."

By this time Red had disappeared again into the cliff.  Sharma looked back, he had not noticed that there was no cave behind him but when he did he reacted in exactly the same way that Knight had done.  He worked his way along with his hands until they penetrated the rock.

"Another illusion
,"
he whispered
to himself
, then turned to Knight.  "How do you know we're on earth
?"
he asked again, but this time more forcefully.